Introduction
Comrade Ang Wah Lai, President of Singapore Union of Broadcasting Employees
Comrade K. Govindasamy, General Secretary of Singapore Union of Broadcasting Employees
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Morning
It is my pleasure to officiate SUBE’s 8th Triennial Delegates’ Conference this morning. Let me take this opportunity to share with you, some of my personal thoughts on the challenges facing the union and how we can prepare ourselves to cope with them.
Looking Back at History
The Singapore Union of Broadcasting Employees (SUBE) has come a long way since it left the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees in 1980.
The union was born when Radio and Television Singapore became a statutory board and was renamed Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Hence, the house union that was formed was called the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Staff Union. Just 12 years later, the union underwent another identity change, this time broadening into today’s industry union, SUBE, when SBC became Singapore International Media in 1992 and subsequently Television Corporation of Singapore in 1994 and today’s MediaCorp.
SUBE’s scope of representation expanded as it included under its wing people from broadcast houses and any form of electronic media communication companies. With the industry changes in 1992, many employees were hired on contract basis. In recent years, more were employed as contract workers. Originally the union was reluctant to take in contract workers as members because they appeared a threat to those employed on a so-called “permanent” basis. As the impermanence of jobs became obvious, union leaders saw that contract workers, too, need the union’s protection. But another hurdle had to be overcome – management objections. With their persuasiveness and determination, the hard work of the union leaders eventually paid off as the management allowed SUBE to represent this group of contract workers. By Year 2000, the union membership strength surged by five-fold from a modest 200 members when SUBE was first formed, to more than 1000 union members.
Unfortunately, two subsequent retrenchment exercises, in Year 2000 and 2002, had struck about 300 members off the union’s register. Nonetheless, the union leaders worked with NTUC to provide job counselling and organise job fairs for retrenched workers. The union leaders also negotiated with the management for training grant, amounting to $130,000, provide one-year medical coverage and pay for one-year union membership subscription fees for retrenched members. If the union had fully embraced the “seamless membership” system, the 300 would have remained members of SUBE at least for a while until they are transferred to unions covering their new fields of work.
The Economic Environment
The past few years have been very difficult for everyone. We have come to live in very turbulent times. We have been grappling with challenges one after another. The interconnected world has made us extremely vulnerable to external threat. The global economic downturn and the threat of worldwide terrorism hit our economy badly. The SARS epidemic aggravated the situation and slowed down our economic recovery.
But we did not give up during those tough years. We continued to battle on and fight for the slightest hope of survival. We finally snapped a 3-year economic slump when the Singapore economy rebounded with a strong 7.5% GDP growth on the back of the favourable external environment in the first quarter this year. Its strong growth momentum continued in the second quarter of 2004, with advance estimates showing that real GDP in the second quarter of this year increased by about 12 per cent over the same period in 2003. The high year-on-year growth rate was indicative of the economy's recovery from the severe impact of SARS a year ago as well as the continuing pickup in global economic activity.
However, we must be watchful of potential conflicts or flashpoints that will affect the world, and ourselves. The problems are:
1 North Korea’s nuclear ambitions
2 Relations between mainland China and Taiwan
3 Terrorist activities in South-east Asia
4 Post-war developments in Iraq and political stability in that region.
We must be able to assess the threats correctly, meeting the people concerned directly if it is possible. Then we will be able to take the proper steps against any eventuality. That is how we have overcome problems in the past. That is how we will overcome current and future problems.
Global Competition
For the broadcasting industry, the emerging convergence of computing, communication and media have spawned new opportunities. This has spawned more intense competition on a global scale, resulting in massive changes. Other implications of this convergence include the need for heavy investment in networks, distribution and new services in the face of uncertain consumer response.
The nature of the markets that we compete in has changed substantially due to the differentiation and “globalisation” of contents, as well as the increase in the number of platforms through which contents are distributed. Unlike in the past when media companies enjoyed virtual monopolies, today borders are more porous as technologies evolve at a faster pace. Nowadays, to play a dominant role in this re-engineered industry, media companies must exploit their contents, brands and distribution power on a global basis. Competition will continue to intensify and we will lose if we do not respond swiftly. We must continue to innovate to stay in the business.
Skills Upgrading & Employability
To succeed in competing for a share of business against global competition, we have to keep up with higher value added jobs that are being created. To do so, companies have to continue to invest heavily in workers’ training and development, in order to differentiate from or at least keep up with competitors. Furthermore, generic skills have become more crucial, not just company-specific or industry specific ones.
The system of lifelong employment is no longer feasible. The old compact is gone. This needs to be replaced by one where we can help individuals to strengthen their employability. Companies need to provide opportunities for workers to develop their skills so that they can do their jobs better, and be more employable, and workers need to co-operate with management to adopt a lifelong learning mindset. This is the new compact between employer and employee, if workers are to remain engaged in their jobs.
Currently, NTUC is working on how to help workers create individual learning accounts. We need to educate workers that they have a personal responsibility to upgrade themselves to ensure their own employability. There could be some element of co-funding, between individuals, employers, and the Government. The range of courses should be sufficiently wide to allow the individual to choose based on what he intends to do. The NTUC and its affiliated unions would continue to work with employers to help kick start these accounts, on a pilot basis. I am very confident that with the Individual Learning Account in place, more workers will have more opportunity to undertake courses to enhance their future employability.
Wage Restructuring
It is important to make our wages more flexible, so that companies can respond better to business environment. The seniority-based wage system has to be revamped to one that can offer competitive pricing and reward workers based on performance. Wages must be more flexible to cope with cyclical changes. We want companies to be able to ride the business cycles and retrench only as a last resort. Of course, a more performance based system means a need for robust performance appraisal systems, and willingness to share information between the management and the employees.
I am told that currently, in Mediacorp, an average of 77 percent of employee’s salary comprise of the basic pay, 20 percent annual variable component and 3 percent is the monthly variable component. In fact, union leaders should continue to work with the company to achieve an average of 70 percent basic component and 30 percent variable component of employee’s salary. To get workers to accept a lower fixed pay, the company must demonstrate that workers have a fair share in the upside: when the company makes more profits. Fair play is paramount to winning the trust of workers.
Union-Management Communications
It is important that the union continue to harness a good relationship with the management. But relationship building is a two-way traffic. The management needs to rope union leaders in the change management process, and be open and transparent. The management should lend a listening ear to union leaders’ suggestions, and improve communications with them. On the other hand, union leaders should do likewise. If both parties understand the concerns of each other, it would be easy to strike win-win situations. Who will then benefit? It has to be the company, the union and the workers!
Conclusion
As the pace of change quickens, the union needs real change leaders. Our leaders must be agents of change to help workers make successful transitions. They would need to constantly scan the horizon to identify potential danger spots. It would be the duty of all responsible leaders to do the right thing, to ensure union members have a better life in the future!
On that note, I wish SUBE a successful Triennial Delegates’ Conference!
Thank you.
